Out in the pool area my frustration grows. When we first put the pool in , I swore there would be no gardens inside the fence that surrounds it. The pool was a place to swim, sit, relax and enjoy, not weed, water, and dig. There is no irrigation system out there either, so any watering  requires several hoses to be  linked together dragged through the gate .

For a long time there were only 12 large juniper bushes (6×8 ft) that lined the fence so it wouldn’t look so overwhelming fence -y . Then we needed to re-claim some space for the hammock, and 5 of the  junipers came out. In went a clematis vine(‘snow queen’) and hosta (‘sum and substance’ and ‘blue angel’). Slowly after that initial garden bed was put in  the urge to “pretty it up” out there has taken over and stomped on  my reslove and more garden spaces have been added.(like the one below)

The only place left with just the evergreens was the left side, until last week. The junipers have grown by leaps and bounds, which is astonishing given that they are growing in pure sand topped with gravel and never watered or fertilized. Navigating the walkway on that side of the pool was getting tricky and the children were annoyed that any ball or pool toy that got errantly tossed there was essentially gone forever because the bushes were touching from top to bottom making an impenetrable hedge that as a bonus  caused an  allergic rash when touched, (especially painful to  someone in a skimpy bathing suit) .

Because they were thriving despite lack of care, I decide to leave them, only radically  prune them up.  I even called it bonsai hoping a fancy name would help in my acceptance of the new design. Yesterday I added lots of ground cover  plants ( you can hardly see they are still so small)and LOTS of soil ammendments too.  Overall, I have to say….I am not so sure I like it.

 I am going to be patient and see what happens in the spring when the newly planted and divided plants fill out and the juniper pruning gets tweaked. Then maybe rip it all out  and add more cement.

… a little aside….when we bought the juniper bushes , all 12 of them were marked ‘Sea Green’, an upright form that grows 6 ft tall and arches out 8 ft. As time went by it became apparant that one was an imposter. All these years I have left it there as a reminder that plants are mis labeled ALL the time and you have to be ever diligent. It was funny and a sort of  poke at the seriousness I sometimes have in the garden, but lately it is annoying me and may be the next thing to go.